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Murphy, though, doesn’t believe former Crewe boss Dario Gradi, who has been been at the club for 30 years and is current director of football and the director of the club’s Academy, knew about the abuse.

But he has joined the growing call for Gradi to publicly address the matter.

“In my experience, Dario went out of way to behave above board,” Murphy said, speaking to both The Times and the Evening Standard.

“He would knock on the door to get you up, wouldn’t come in. You would get stick from the older lads – ‘it’s Dario’s boys’ – but I can only speak from my own experiences and, hand on heart, I would be amazed if he knew something about it.

“He seemed to me very aware of his responsibilities to us. I never felt uncomfortable.

“He was like a father figure. I believe that if he had known what Barry Bennell had been doing, he would have put a stop to it.”

Undated file photo of football coach Barry Bennell, as eleven people have come forward to police in the wake of revelations about sexual abuse in football

Murphy added: “There is no point in avoiding it. At first I might have been reluctant to comment but that has been part of the problem — people not talking about it.

“They should open the doors to everything they have got. If they are innocent then let them reveal what they have.

“You cannot stand in the way of this. This needs to come out. I’m sure Dario Gradi will make that happen. He will be quietly very sad and upset that this happened to some of the kids he would have known and cared about.

“I hope whoever is out there suffering feels they are able to speak because it’s got to be better than holding it all in. I hope not a wider problem but these days nothing surprises me.”